When dealing with heroes, there is merely the horrible pain that you know you will inflict. In comic stories, it is often merely your imagination. In dramatic works, it is usually as bad, or worse, than you expect; the Bearer-Of-Bad-News often finds himself feeling that it was Dirty Business. Euphemisms don't cut it, and only prolong your agony. On the other hand, being clear up front may lead to recriminations: why didn't you break it to him ''gently''? You may have to cope with Manly Tears. Worse, you may find the character tearless and not know how to cope. (And all this, perhaps, after you have labored to Bring News Back.)

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Characters who frequently bring bad news may be blamed for it, and regarded as actively unlucky. Talk to the Fist is possible with hot-tempered recipients. If you're translating for such a character or a Bad Boss or Big Bad type, you might want to try to do a Tactful Translation in order to avoid the pain. Accusations of Malicious Slander may also follow.

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Examples:

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Anime & Manga

In Monster, Tenma finds himself having to meet up with his ex-fiancee to let her know that her current love interest is dead.

Subversion of sorts: Nobody in Fullmetal Alchemist wants to be the one to tell the Elric brothers that their friend, Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, has been brutally murdered. This is made even worse (for the reader) by juxtaposing scenes of the boys and their friend Winry laughing and having fun on a train at the same time that the funeral is taking place. How do they finally find out? From the newspaper.

In Brotherhood, an oblivious Edward asks Roy Mustang about Hughes's whereabouts; Mustang, having taken the situation hard himself, can't bring himself to tell Edward, and instead tells him that Hughes decided to retire and move to the countryside. Edward takes the lie at face value, and decides to discuss it with Maria Ross when he bumps into her in the hallway. Ross, who wasn't privy to Mustang's lie, assumes Edward already knows the truth, and discusses it as such. The miscommunication doesn't sink in until Ross notes that Hughes was promoted two ranks posthumously - which Edward realizes wouldn't happen to somebody who'd willingly retired. Ross is then forced to explain the truth to an increasingly distraught and guilt-ridden Edward.

No one had the heart to inform Annerose von Grünwald about Siegfried Kircheis's death in Legend of Galactic Heroes. Fortunately for them, Oberstein had already done that. In general, with the rate of death in the series, this happens often.

Comic Books

The various Heralds of Galactus in Marvel Comics are constantly bringing bad news to people. Usually of the "your planet is going to be eaten by a space god" variety.

Comic Strips

The Wizard of Id. The King, aware that his useless knight Sir Rodney is bringing news of his defeat, reminds him of the old Roman custom in which the bearer of bad tidings was put to death. A sweating Rodney replies with the 'joyous' news that one of the King's more awful provinces with its rebellious peasants, stinking swamps (etc, etc) has been given to the Huns to worry about.

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Fan Works

In Child of the Storm, Strange observes that, like Gandalf, people generally aren't happy to see him because he usually only pops up when everything's about to go wrong.

In the Loud House fanfic From the Wreckage, Rita tells each of the surviving Loud kids that Lori, Lola, and Lynn Sr. are dead.

In Amazing Fantasy, Aleksei frantically calls Melissa to tell her that something has gone wrong with the Electro System and Max is caught in the middle of it.

Done repeatedly in the Dragon Age: Inquisition fanfic Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium. First, Varric has to be the one to tell his old pal Hawke that the rumors about the Conclave explosion are true, and "I dont know how to tell you this, but there was exactly one survivor of the disaster and shes got the same name as you." This is the least bad of all the bad news anyone has to deliver during the course of the story.

The premise of The Messenger (2009), about an American army officer whose job is to inform the relatives of soldiers that their loved ones have died in Iraq.

The taxi cab driver in We Were Soldiers. Mrs. Moore is not pleased when he scares her by coming to her door with the telegram, only to ask for directions to another house. He sadly replies that he didn't want that job, he's just trying to do it.note Truth in Television, tragically enough. Consider that the guys who deliver those messages in the military are specially trained to deal with the consequences of this trope, while taxi cab drivers are not. Mrs. Moore tells him to bring all future telegrams to her house, so she can take on the job herself.

This is one of the duties of Robert Sean Leonard's character in Swing Kids, as part of his Nazi training. Thing is, he doesn't actually know that he's delivering bad news - he's just delivering boxes. When one of the recipients screams after opening hers, he opens the one he has yet to deliver and sees that he's bringing Jewish widows - who had been unaware that they were widows - the ashes of their husbands.

Into the Storm (2009) features the historical figure of Captain Pim. Poor Captain Pim. Man only gets to announce the bad news. Lampshaded by Churchill when he finally announces something good (the German surrender and the war's end).

Churchill: After bringing me bad news for five years, in one fell swoop you have redeemed yourself.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, one of the Hydra officers comes back to the Red Skull to tell him Cap and the Howling Commandos destroyed another of their factories, but they "fought to the last man." Red Skull pulls out a pistol, saying, "Evidently not!" *bang*

At the start of The Right Stuff, the widow of a test pilot is shown cowering in fear from the saturnine black-clad priest approaching her door, being all too aware of what his presence means.

Saving Private Ryan. Mrs Ryan collapses on seeing an army vehicle turn up at her house with a priest.

The Perfect Storm. Bob Brown, the owner of the Andrea Gail, has to personally drop the news to the crew's friends and relatives that the rescue helicopter had to ditch in the middle of the storm. Lampshaded by Bobby's mother at the moment he enters the tavern:

If it were good news he would've given us a phone call.

The Australian film The Telegram Man (2018) has the title character delivering telegrams to isolated Outback farms, a job that makes him quite popular as the bearer of news from the outside world... until World War II breaks out.

Folklore

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the banshee (or bean-sidhe) is a fairy-woman and often guardian spirit of the old Gaelic families who can foretell death in "her" family; she wails and cries through the night to warn the family that one of them will soon die; if the family hears her crying three nights in a row, they know that they should begin planning a funeral. As she can foretell death in the family that she protects, the banshee is also grieving for the family as well as warning them of impending death. When multiple mná-sídhe (fairy-women) are heard wailing at once, it foretells the death of an important political or religious figure. As she is often a guardian spirit to specific clans and can foretell death in "her" family, she is mourning the impending death as well as warning the family. Most often, the banshee is depicted as an old, frightening woman, but she can also appear as a strikingly beautiful woman of any age that suits her.

Literature

Cumber from Dragoncharm is given the unenviable task of locating a Natural dragon to take on a tour into his cave system (that the Natural will believe is just for adventure), educate them that the Charmed are in terrible straits, and convince said Natural to accompany him to the nexus of the Charmed world to tell the leader about said terrible straits.

In Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novel Only in Death, when Ludd and Beltayn had just managed to secure the water they desperately needed, Rawne had had to break the bad news from the battle.

Ludd and Beltayn had been so proud of their achievement. Rawne had taken no pleasure in wiping the smiles off their faces and the triumph out of their hearts.

Grí­ma Wormtongue dubs Gandalf "Láthspell" — ill news — because of his way of arriving with bad news. He's also nicknamed "Stormcrow" due to his reputation for showing up just as things are about to get very bad. Denethor also professes his dislike of Gandalf for the same reasons, though less aggressively

There's also a true example: Frodo himself. The Ring itself is a harbinger of the upcoming war, but even if Frodo succeeds, many of the people he meets will be killed or dispossessed by the consequences.

Galadriel: Thy coming to us is as the footstep of doom.

In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, Dornstrikes Garro for the news he brought. Then, as Qruze pointed out, Dorn had clearly held the blow, which could have killed Garro, because he wanted to hear it all. He listens to the rest, and accuses him of insanity. When Garro accuses him of blindness, he decides to execute him. Only Keller's intervention saves him.

In John Frenchs Warhammer40000Horus Heresy novella The Crimson Fist, Perturabo beats his adjutant Berossus after the latter informs him that Sigismund, whom Perturabo expected to be in command of the Imperial Fists fleet that the Iron Warriors are attacking and was hoping to capture, is not present on the battlefield. The beating is so severe that Berossus ends up interred within a dreadnought.

In The Bible, David gets word from his military that his rebellious son is dead, and goes into a Heroic Blue Screen of Death. The messengers repeatedly try to avoid the issue, afraid they'll be killed, but David just goes into mourning.

In Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain novel Death or Glory, Kolfax comes to tell Cain, THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, that the first possible waterhole has no water in person; Cain explicitly observes that he does not want to be the bearer of bad news over the vox.

In Gav Thorpe's Warhammer 40,000 short story "Renegades" after the company goes renegade, they find that Rykhel launched a saviour pod to get away from them; the captain is angry that he did not stand up and face him, but Rykhel is determined to bring back news of their treachery and murders. (The captain thinks No One Could Survive That!.)

In Wraith Squadron, Wedge Antilles has to compose and send a letter to Admiral Ackbar explaining that his niece Jesmin Ackbar died in combat. He's shown agonizing over the phrasing of the opening line; among other things he rejects "I'm afraid this letter comes as the bearer of bad news". In the end Wedge spends the entire night on the letter, thinking with a faint pride that at least It Never Gets Any Easier, because he never gets deadened to or glib about the deaths of his people.

Later in the series, General Melvar has to bring Zsinj some very bad news: not only has a deathtrap failed to kill Wraith Squadron (or even any of its members), but they have managed to take one of his key personnel alive. In a subversion of You Have Failed Me (and an inversion of Shoot the Messenger), Zsinj has an epic Villainous Breakdown where he destroys practically everything in his office but the person who brought him the bad news.

General Melvar: Will you be wanting your office restored, or do you wish to redecorate?

In Wen Spencer's Endless Blue, Mikhail recognizes the bearers of bad news by their expressions. They confirm that Turk was murdered, rather than dying in an accident.

In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000Blood Angels novel Deus Sanguinius, Mephiston meets Dante in the garden to bring him news — and Dante knows it's bad at once. Mephiston tells him that Vode, Gallio, and all Gallio's men are dead; Dante tries to deny the obvious implication, thinking of other possibilities than that they were killed by fellow Blood Angels.

Later, Stele brings Arkio news of why the power plant failed and warns him that it was hard. Arkio is angry that he tries to shelter him — and then still more angry as Stele tells him that it was an attempt to kill them all by having the plant blow up. Arkio guesses the saboteur was a Word Bearer or other renegade, and Stele tells him it was not only a Blood Angel but his own brother.

In the Discworld book Night Watch, Nobby Nobbs is never allowed to be this, due to what is only referred to as "the "bet you a dollar you're the widow Jackson" nonsense".note i.e., "I'm looking for the Widow Jackson", "She ain't a Widow", "Bet you a dollar".

In Aaron Allston's Galatea in 2-D, Roger proves to Donna that she's not going insane, but this entails that her ex-husband is trying to drive her insane. She is angry about the news.

Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. The Hingefreel people of Arkintoofle Minor did try to build spaceships that were powered by bad news but they didn't work particularly well and were so extremely unwelcome whenever they arrived anywhere that there wasn't really any point in being there.

Toward the end of The Elenium trilogy, Sparhawk dreads having to deliver the news of his squire Kurik's death to his wife. He reaches the house only to find that she already knows, having received the information from another bearer.

In the ballad Gorm Grymme by the German writer Theodor Fontane, king Gorm of Denmark loves his son Harald dearly and one yule day he tells his vassals that anyone who brought him the news of his son's death would die within an hour. So when Harald is killed in battle, nobody wants to inform the king. Queen Thyra then manages to convey the message to Gorm without words, by taking off her jewelry, dressing in black, lighting twelve candles and covering the great hall and throne with black drapes.

In Teresa Frohock's Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Lindsey's brother dies, but it's several chapters before Raechel, who knows, connects with her. Then she has Lucian do it, since he's her Elder.

In Field of Dishonor, Michelle Henke, the title character's best friend, is the one to bring her the news of Paul Tankersley's death.

In At All Costs, Thomas Theisman is the one who has to tell Eloise Pritchart that her lover Javier Giscard has been killed in battle.

Temeraire: The protagonist survives a shipwreck that kills Tom Riley early in Crucible of Gold. When he crosses paths with the dead man's wife late in the book, he realizes to his horror that the news hasn't reached her yet, and she immediately guesses the truth from his abrupt change in demeanour.

"There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb" ends with the heroes returning from an adventure in another dimension, all feeling pretty good about themselves... only to find Willow waiting for them, looking miserable. One look at her face is all Angel needs.

The titular character of Dexter, not normally known for his tact, botches this horribly when he has to tell his stepkids, Astor and Cody, that their mother has been murdered. While wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

In Game of Thrones, Roose Bolton delivers most of the bad news for Robb: that Winterfell has been seized by the Ironborn and later that it has been sacked, that Bran and Rickon are presumed dead, and that his grandfather Lord Hoster has died. He also tries to invoke this to Jaime by trolling him about Stannis' attack and taunting him with the possibility that Cersei and the others might have died.

Bill: As you well know tomorrow never comes and do you know why? Because, little dewy eyed Timbo, tomorrow we'll all be dead! Dead, dead! D! E! E! D! DEAD! Graeme: You might have broken it to him gently.

In the JAG episode Critical Condition, Admiral Chegwidden has to tell Buds wife Harriet that her husband stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan and is in critical condition.

Subverted when a doctor tells his patient that they have her test results. He asks, "May I be blunt with you?" to which she responds, "No." He looks confused and struggles for what to say. Finally he says, "Well, everything is fine. You're not gonna die!" She is very happy with this information and leaves as the doctor sighs to himself.

In another episode, a doctor sits in his patient's lap and tells her that her father is dead. As she cries, the doctor calls someone on speaker phone and tells a friend that sitting on the lap didn't work. She was still crying.

"I have a message... Lieutenant Colonel... Henry Blake's plane... was shot down... over the Sea of Japan... it spun in... there were no survivors."

This was an unusual example of Radar's actor, Gary Burghoff, also being the bearer of (much less serious) bad news to the rest of the cast. Until he came in and read the telegram, the cast had no idea that there was any intention to kill off the character of Henry Blake. This is how we got the McLeaned trope.

In a later episode, a soldier dies in an ambulance wreck; he was the driver, had previously been called out on his Drives Like Crazy tendencies, and was responsible for the wreck. Radar brings in a suggested draft of the letter to the soldier's parents that puts the death in a kinder light.

In the pilot episode "Yankee White", Gibbs finds out that Caitlin Todd's ex died shortly after meeting with her. He takes her aside and drops the news bluntly into the middle of their conversation, so that he can observe her reaction and gauge her guilt or innocence.

Happens also when Director Jenny Sheppard is killed and Ducky is told by phone, and then has to tell Abby and McGee. And again in season six, when Gibbs has to tell Michelle Lee's little sister, whom she has been raising like her daughter, that Lee is dead.

In the Orange Is the New Black episode "Appropriately Sized Pots," Healy is this to Rosa. While she's been undergoing cancer treatment for the length of the show, Healy has to tell her that a life-saving treatment isn't covered by the DOC, and she doesn't have much time left.

Parks and Recreation's upbeat Chris doesn't like to give bad news. Fortunately, he has Ben to do it for him.

In the Revolution episode "Ties That Bind", Corporal Lawrence has to tell the bad news to Sergeant Strausser that they failed to capture Miles Matheson. Strausser, being a sociopath, responds by stabbing Lawrence to death.

Major Paul Davis of Stargate SG-1 is nicknamed "Disaster Davis" by the fans, as he usually appears with bad news, sometimes at bad times with even worse news. This is a Justified Trope by the nature of his character however, he's the liaison between the Pentagon and Stargate Command, so he is really only ever sent when the Pentagon has bad news.

In The West Wing, Bartlet's best friend and chief of staff Leo has to bring him two of the worst pieces of news of his life. Once is when Mrs. Landingham, his beloved secretary, has been killed in a car accident; the other is when his youngest daughter Zoey has been kidnapped. Notably, there is no sound in either of these scenes. In the final season, it's C.J. who has to tell him that Leo has died of a heart attack. Another moment, featuring severe Mood Whiplash, is in a flashback to the Bartlet campaign's first big victory at the Illinois primary, when Donna (who's only recently started working for Josh) has to interrupt his celebrating to tell him his father died.

In Arrow, Oliver starts to be this for Nyssa after she has come searching for Sara, only for her to realise before he tells her that Sara's dead. Katrina Law's acting is so good in this scene, you can literally see the moment that Nyssa realises the love of her life is dead.

In The Commish, two police officers dither for an entire episode about passing on the news to a family that their father is dead. When they eventually do, And There Was Much Rejoicing happens instead.

In The Bill, a police officer is sent to tell a man his brother has died, only to have him flee the house at the sight of him. Turns out he's involved in criminal activity; when he's arrested at the end of the episode, the police realise they still have to tell him the bad news, but he takes it calmly as they weren't close anyway.

In Million Yen Women, Minami works at night and comes back before the rest of the household. This causes her to be the one to find Nanaka's dead body and to have to tell the others.

Music

"Bad News and Bad Breaks" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones:

''Bad news, if he could choose, Would he refuse to be the bearer? It seems what he has to do Could not be any clearer. It's a job he can't neglect. Its consequences will affect. I'm glad that I'm not in his shoes. He's the bearer of bad news. What can you do? He's got an ugly job to do!((

Kind old King George sent mother a note When he heard that father was gone It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll Gold leaf and all (...) And my eyes still grow damp to remember His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp!

Pro Wrestling

Wade Barrett frequently does this as a running gag for WWE webshowThe JBL and Cole Show... not out of any genuine concern or to inform people of things, but just to be an obnoxious jerk. And now he's doing this on the TV shows as well, going so far as to officially change his ring name to Bad News Barrett. This change has definitely helped his career big time, as even as an obnoxious heel, he gets Bad News Barrett chants whenever he appears, including the WWE Hall of Fame.

Theater

Rowan Atkinson in Pink Tights and Plenty of Props, had the Bearer of Good news, then the Bearer of Bad News, followed by the Bearer of Indifferent News, and then the Bearer of Bad News Which He Thinks Is Good News.

Watch this (from 2:21) for some insight into the role of messengers in Elizabethan theatre. According to Rowan Atkinson.

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Ross must bring MacDuff the news that his wife and children were all killed. And Seyton brings Macbeth the news that his wife has killed herself.

An earlier scene has a messenger that lampshades this trope and foreshadows the beating that Cleopatra would give.

This is the entire purpose of messengers in classical tragedy. And they're usually Spear Carriers, to boot. Sometimes they can be upgraded to Bit Characters.

Subverted in Caesar and Cleopatra, where the garrison of a border post receives a bearer of evil tidings with much fuss and honour. A Persian mercenary expresses surprise at this, and his commander explains:

Belzanor: O barbarous Persian, hear my instruction. In Egypt the bearer of good tidings is sacrificed to the gods as a thank offering; but no god will accept the blood of the messenger of evil. When we have good tidings, we are careful to send them in the mouth of the cheapest slave we can find. Evil tidings are borne by young noblemen who desire to bring themselves into notice.

The Courier in 1776 exists solely to deliver despondent and doom-laden dispatches from George Washington to Congress... and to sing a Tear Jerker song about how his best friend died alone at Lexington and Concord.

Henry the Tenth (Part Seven), a coarse-acting play by Michael Green, has a Running Gag involving a herald who gets beaten up every time he does this.

In J.B., a pair of unnamed Messengers report the successive deaths of Job's children in Scenes Three through Six, with their occupations varying from scene to scene. They agree in each case that the Second Messenger was the sole witness to their demise ("I only am escaped alone to tell thee..."), but he is always the less articulate of the two.

Video Games

Mother 3 has a very sad example: So the forest's burning and everyone is looking for Flint's family. A search is organized for his wife. When the kids are finally found, a neighbour wants to tell Flint some news. The good news? They found an awesome Drago Fang that would make a great weapon! The bad news? It was found lodged in his wife's heart.

In Pokémon, Absol is noted under its Pokedex entry to be able to sense disaster and attempts to warn others of its arrival. Unfortunately for it, it frequently gets mistaken as causing said disaster. Poor Absol.

Much like Wedge, above, the Mass Effect 2 DLC pack "Lair of the Shadow Broker" includes a file on Tali writing and rewriting the letter to the parents of someone who was killed serving with her. She even uses some similar lines - trying not to be trite, finding the right balance between distance and closeness, etc.

This is actually the name of a mission in Borderlands 2, where the player must tell the folks of Sanctuary about Roland's death.

World of Warcraft has a veritable wealth of opportunities to break bad news. One of the most notable examples would be when you must carry the shield of Bolvar Fordragon (Alliance) or rent armor of Dranosh Saurfang (Horde) to King Varian Wrynn and Warchief Thrall after the catastrophic "Wrathgate incident."

The Grey Wardens tend to fill this role. The bad news is usually Darkspawn related, i.e. "Darkspawn are coming", "Darkspawn are already here", "A Blight has begun so get ready for an army of Darkspawn led by an Archdemon"... as a result, people tend to have mixed feelings when Wardens show up.

In Dragon Age: Origins, one of the sidequests has you informing the widows of fallen soldiers of the fates of their husbands. You can either do this yourself or have a party member do it for you. Alistair, Wynne, and Leliana try to break the news as gently as they can, while Morrigan, Oghren, or Sten will either be incredibly blunt or just plain insulting.

In Dragon Age II, during one quest, you have to bring news to a man that part of his missing wife's body has been found. You can either break it gently ("Just know that she will not be coming home") and return her recovered wedding ring, or blurt the truth callously and send him into a complete meltdown.

Later, depending on your choices during the expedition to the Deep Roads, you may have to bring the news to your mother that your surviving younger sibling either died or had to become a Grey Warden to avoid death.

Later still, you get to be the one to inform your mother's brother that she's been murdered by a serial killer. How he initially reacts depends on your chosen delivery, although either way he mellows by the end of the conversation. If your sibling is still alive, he takes on the duty of this trope himself, promising to break it to him/her gently.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, depending on whether you sided with the mages or the Templars, either Cole or Dorian shows up at Haven to announce that the Elder One is attacking.

Later in the game, if Hawke is chosen to make the Heroic Sacrifice in the Fade, Varric will take on this duty, sending letters to the Kirkwall companions.

Champions of Faraus: One of Dorawns guards goes to tell Wila that her sister and brother-in-law had died to a monster they were hunting, while also escorting her nephew Will to the Hyperia Pantheon House so he can live with her. Punnily enough, the guard happens to be an Ursarer, making them the Bear-er of bad news.

Taylor, aka Labor Day, is this when he has tell the protagonist of Holiday Wars that the Easter Bunny is out to get her.

In Something*Positive, Davan — who has to be the one to do it because he's the only one who knows — takes on the duty of informing his sisters and his two closest friends (who might as well be his sisters too) that his father, Fred, has Alzheimer's disease. He gives them this information immediately after his mother's funeral, his mother having died without ever finding out that her husband was sick.

In Schlock Mercenary, Lieutenant Fobius and two grunts have to inform Captain Tagon's father of his death. However, due to the killers' policy they were going after his family and associates too, and so the Toughs wound up rescuing him from assassins in his home, and not having to break the news because the assassins had already done so.

Western Animation

Good news, everyone! A Running Gag in Futurama is that Professor Farnsworth will give bad news in a cheerful way to make people feel better. Until someone replies, "Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of that..."

This is Butch's main role in Recess. Randall can do this sometimes as well.

In Young Justice, when everyone is mourning the death of Artemis, a few people angrily wonder why Nightwing isn't here. When they're told that he's gone to break the news to her boyfriend, Wally, their expressions turn to one of pain and sympathy. Sure, he wasn't actually going to do that at all, but still.

Real Life

The death of a US service member is announced by two members of the honor guard at the door of the deceased's next of kin. The families of the wounded in action are notified by phone call. Consequently, everyone in a military community dreads the arrival of the honor guard. Kids growing up on military bases may be playing outside when they see them approaching, and they know that it means someone's dad or mom just died, and they can only pray that it wasn't theirs.

Howard Cosell turned into this when John Lennon was killed in 1980. Thanks to a producer for ABC's New York station being right next to Lennon as he was wheeled into Roosevelt Hospital, word got to Roone Arledge, then head of both ABC News and ABC Sports. He promptly passed it down to Cosell, who was in the booth during Monday Night Football. He and the other commentators debated during a break whether or not to announce it, but ultimately agreed.

Frank Gifford: And I don't care what's on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth. Howard Cosell: Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous perhaps, of all of the Beatles. Shot twice in the back. Rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. Dead. On. Arrival.

News anchors are, by nature of the profession, required to bear bad news. Walter Cronkite famously broke down in tears while announcing to the US public that President Kennedy had been shot and killed...and only paused long enough to wipe off his glasses, before continuing to explain the situation in his usual calm and authoritative manner.

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